...you walk outside in the morning and your driveway looks like this!
It rained a lot last night. The Hermit and I were home alone, the older two kids were camping about 20 miles east of here, and Joe was at a friend's house about ten miles downstream on Sand Creek. We were worried at times about the campers, with severe thunderstorm warnings all around, but they texted us that they were okay.
It had also rained a lot last Wednesday night, 3-4 inches. The creek was up, and Vinny's baseball playoff game got postponed from Thursday to Friday due to wet baseball fields.
I think we got about 4 inches last night too, but I never put two and two together until I saw the driveway this morning. The creek had overflown its banks, and was flowing through the old horse pasture to the right in the photo, the very place where I was going to put a garden but decided not to. The pond, meanwhile, had risen to meet the creek.
After I put on waders to investigate, I found myself wading through above knee deep water on the driveway. Wow, I thought, as reality started to sink in. We were flooded in!
The house is high and dry, so we are okay there. However, Sand Creek has to be a good 4 or 5 feet above normal. No one around here has ever seen it like this. We had to load bales of hay in the canoe and take the canoe out to the road and have a neighbor drive out to the horse pasture to feed the horses.
The horses had a small area of high ground to stand on. And see the baby horse in the photo? That is one of the many things I need to blog about.
The water rose a bit throughout the morning, and I used the canoe to bring a bicycle out to the road so I could survey the area. The road a half mile north of here was washed out in a low spot between two old gravel pits. There were county workers hauling loads of gravel and working on this holiday to make the road passable. Sort of. That same road is under water in at least four places.
One of our canoes had been parked along the creek bank, a good two feet above normal water level. As I was riding in the back of the neighbors' pickup truck to feed the horses, I noticed the canoe, on the other side of the road, lodged in some alders on what used to be the creek bank. Vinny and Nina were able to rescue the canoe, and the paddles were still inside!
It looks like the kids and I will be having a day off from work and school tomorrow. It rained and hailed again this afternoon, and I doubt we will be able to get out of the driveway until late tomorrow at the earliest. Joe is staying another night at his friend's house; they are having flooding issues there too. But I am thankful everyone is okay, and that the house is on high ground!
8 comments:
Who would think a canoe would be a main source of transportation to civilization. I hope it dries up soon.
There's an excuse for missing work that I have not had the opportunity to try - I'm flooded in. Hope it clears quickly without causing too much damage.
More pictures, please, of the baby horse. "He" looks darling!
What an adventure. I'm glad everyone's okay and the house didn't flood.
Glad everyone is all right - memories of this past fall's flood and our bumbling sheep rescue are all coming back! You are VERY lucky the house in on high ground (ours isn't!)
Oh, my! How exciting. Glad you're all safe.
It may sound completely inappropriate when you're looking down your driveway at a flood, but I'm glad we've been getting so much rain. I was worried after the dry winter.
Isn't it encouraging how a "disaster" like this tends to bring out the best parts of people. Send some of that water down to Missouri, would you please?
Wow, and I thought things were soggy around here (3 miles outside Sandstone, MN). We have gotten about 7 inches all together, and our woods are all flooded behind the chicken coop, with the little seasonal creek that rund throught there gusisdhng downhill to the wetlands below. My geese are loving it, as are some mallards who stopped by for a visit, but we are on a hill so otherwise OK. My chickens are out feasting on all the worms and slugs crawling around this morning. Good thing my mama hen and her 5 chicks are in a cage insde the coop, though -- wet grass is very bad for babies. And spealking of grass, my joke sign by the front porch door is now quite true: "I fought the lawn and the lawn won!" It's a jungle out there...
Muffy's- the water has gone down, driveway is driveable, although the water is still higher than I had ever seen it.
Webb- Since I work for the Department of Natural Resources, when I e-mailed work this morning I asked "Do I need a trout stamp to fish in my driveway? :)
Penelopedia- Joe got the short end of the deal. He stayed at his friend's house, but they ended up going to school.
Shannon- I'm glad no livestock rescues were necessary here!
Barefoot- Earlier in the spring it was looking so dry. As long as the house didn't float away, I'm happy for the rain!
Pablo- it's on its way, via the St. Croix and Mississippi, so it will end up on the wrong side of the state for you. Sorry.
Rabbi- Someone around here had a total of twelve inches over a few days. My kids collected a bunch of the worms for fishing. Sounds like your critters are all happy. We're getting chickens, ducks, and guineas soon.
Post a Comment